Bruney the only one shocked at postseason exclusion

A year ago, he pitched in three of the four ALDS games. Yesterday, the Yankees told him to go home, opting to not include the right-handed reliever around like they did with Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Britton and Jose Veras. (sic)

Instead let’s focus on the good news: After six months of trying, we finally got the Yankees to recognize that Chris Britton is better than Brian Bruney!

Inexplicably, Brian Bruney threw 50.0 innings for the Yanks this year. His 4.68 ERA isn’t terrible unti you consider the 10.61 ERA he’s sported since the beginning of August. He was sent down to the minors to work on his command and still managed to sport a K:BB ratio of nearly 1:1 this season. He didn’t show a willingness to work on his pitching but did sport a nifty bad attitude.

Meanwhile, while Jose Veras (5.79, 1:1 K:BB, 9.1 IP) didn’t show much, he seems to be one of Joe Torre’s Guys. Britton threw 12.2 innings with a 3.55 ERA, and Ohlendorf, very impressive in 6.1 innings, struck out 9 and threw strikes.

So as information about the postseason roster trickles out, at least we won’t be subjected to Brian Bruney in the postseason. No word yet on Ron “I let all my inherited runners score” Villone yet.

If the 2007 Yankees were a psychological patient, there is no doubt in my mind that they would have been prescribed massive amounts of lithium from some bearded, monocle-wearing doctor from Vienna.

In all my years of following the team, this was the weirdest season to figure out. In May and June, I was convinced that they weren’t going to the playoffs. I actually thought they would struggle to finish above .500. The pitchers were injured, the lefties weren’t hitting, and the boys seemed to be languishing in a comatose state.

But from the depths of despair at 21-29, the 2007 Yanks went 73-39 the rest of the way to secure a playoff birth. In many ways, this has been the most impressive Yankee year since 1998.

One of the reasons the Yanks were able to bounce back is because you never heard any of their players utter comments like these:

“We’ve got so much talent, I think sometimes we get bored.” – Carlos Delgado

“We have so much talent that sometimes we relax a little bit.” – Pedro Martinez

“Sometimes when you’re a team as talented as we are – I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘bored,’ but I guess you can get complacent at times.” – Tom Glavine

Essentially, there was a market correction. And the Yanks are back in the playoffs for the 13th straight year, while the Mets rode their “talent” to a colossal collapse.

This year it took a combination of youthful infusion to right the Yankee ship. The term “Joba Rules” have entered the Bronx lexicon and, thanks to Brian Cashman and his scouts, the system is awash with talented young arms.

Of course it also helps when the best player in baseball has his best season. Watching Alex this year was a treat-day in and day out. Kudos also to Yankee batting coach Kevin Long, who was in deep water when the season began. A-Rod swears by him, so does Posada. Is it just a coincidence that they had career high offensive numbers?

So the Bi-Polar Yanks went depressive for the first three months and then turned manic. What team will show up in the ALDS?

Here’s what we know: The Yanks will open Thursday in Cleveland and will play Friday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.

Playing the “short” series has its own set of pros and cons, but I think this works out better for Yanks. Not only do they get to face Byrd and Westbrook at Yankee Stadium, but it also means they face Carmona only once.

This puts the pressure on probable 4th game starter Mike Mussina, who was bombed out in his last start. There is some talk that Hughes might take the mound, but that won’t happen. When choosing between a veteran and rookie, Torre will take the former every time. Let’s hope the season isn’t on the line when Moose takes the mound next Monday.

More on the playoffs to come, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share some bizarre emails that have filtered down from the Boston region.

QUOTE
Phil Allaird got an Email from Idiot Redsox Fan

I’ve long ago stopped being surprised by the blatant stupidity of many Red Sox fans. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not occasionally amused by them. Yesterday, for example, I received this email from an idiot in Gloucester:

So much for your “Yankees Juggernaut,” you Joba-the-Hut looking wild card loser. Even if your Stankies would win the World Series, which they won’t, it’s tainted because they are a second place team. Look at the standings. Red Sox rule. — Douggie the Sox fan, Gloucester, MA

Doesn’t this moron realize that the Red Sox were the wildcard representative in 2004 when they won the World Series? This curious form of selective memory seems prevalent in RSN. He must have had too many Narragansett’s at the Crow’s Nest up in Gloucester. Here’s another email:

……Oh and those Wild Card yanks hats are pretty snazzy looking I think, might pick one up for posterity…

So now the wildcard is to be ridiculed and bemoaned. Let’s see, Boston won the wildcard in 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2005. That’s makes for plenty of “snazzy hats” for their collection.
To top it all off, the most despised fan base in baseball, many of whom are bandwagon “pink hats,” are putting their silliness on display now with the pathetic Presidential race for Red Sox nation. Heck, even that old homer Peter Gammons is embarrassed by it all. I hope the dog wins, maybe he can raise the relative I.Q. up there.

The states of New England threatened to secede from the Union in 1814 at the Hartford Convention…Hindsight is 20/20, but it sure would have solved a lot of problems to let them slink away quietly.

On to the playoffs, it should be fun.

Now let me check my emails.

Batty

I would have thought that would have made news on Yankees.com or Pete’s blog – I wonder if that’s really true.

If so it’s really interesting Torre picked Britton – maybe to pick someone that people haven’t really seen all that much of?

Batty

Wait – did they just mean that he wasn’t included on yesterday’s game? If so that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not on the postseason – he could have been given the day off to rest too right?

http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.

It’s quite possible that the Post is reporting rumors masked as poorly constructed and edited sentences. I believe Bruney is not on the roster. I believe Ohlendorf, Veras and Britton are under consideration but not guaranteed roster spots.

Batty

I’d agree with that.

Though $5 says Bruney kicks Britton’s ass, steals his uniform and no one notices till the first homerun.

Jon

Every article from the Post over the past few days contracticts ever other one. I interpreted the “sentence” above to mean that Bruney, Veras, Britton, and Ohlendorf were all “told to go home.” Maybe not.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09....._yanks.htm says “As for filling out his bullpen, Torre has to decide between Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras for the final spot. Mussina, Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Luis Vizcaino, Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth and Ron Villone are likely on the roster.”

as of june 27th of this year, he had thrown 33 innings with a 1.91 ERA.

so in his first 53 2/3 innings fas a Yankee, he had a 1.51 ERA and 51 K’s.

from then on, things got tough for him, but i don’t see how it is “inexplicable” that a guy who had a 1.91 ERA through 33 innings, would wind up throwing 50 innings.

http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.

What did he do to earn those last 10 innings of the season? Absolutely nothing.

steve (different one)

huh?

so, you dominate for 53 innings, then struggle for 7 innings, and you should be never be given another chance? b/c that’s what you are saying.

these are the scores of the games in which he got those last 10 innings:
8-1
16-8
8-5 (8-2 when he came in)
0-16
1-9
11-5
8-7 (score was 2-7 when he came in)
1-10
4-5 (14th inning, everyone else was already used)
6-7 (score was 5-1 when he came in)

so basically he pitched his final 10 innings almost exclusively in garbage time. in other words, exactly what you want to do with a guy who has shown flashes of dominance for you, but you want to give him some innings to see if he can get straightened out.

honestly, i’m not really sure what you are arguing against.

http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.

I’m not arguing against anything other than the fact that Bruney was kept on the roster for so long when Britton wasn’t giving a fair chance. But at this point, the topic’s moot. The season’s over; the Yanks are in the playoffs; and Bruney, a mop-up man, isn’t coming with them. It’s all good. Really.

steve (different one)

trust me, i was in the Britton camp all season. but Bruney wasn’t really the guy i was looking to replace him with until maybe July, at which point they made room by jettisoning myers and proctor anyway.

it was when guys like Sean Henn and Jim Brower were called up over Britton that drove me crazy.

it will be interesting to see if anything ever comes out about why Britton was passed over so many times this year. doesn’t make sense.

not that he’s great, but i’m 99% sure he could have been a useful reliever all year.

http://breakingballs.riveraveblues.com Tommy

Hey, look on the bright side here.

Britton AND Bruney are both better than Jaret Wright, the “talent” the Yankees “traded” to the Orioles in exchange for Britton.